Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 3:15 pm Post subject: Are we better than the 49ers?

We are a very privileged fanbase at this point where we have been able to pencil in the playoffs for the last couple years. I believe that this year will be no different and after every great victory we achieve the question looming in the back of my mind will be "Is this worth getting excited over and can we knock out San Fran in the playoffs?"

I think the NFC has a legit powerhouse at the top for the first time in awhile and we need to be constantly measuring ourselves against them this regular season (us as fans, not the team obviously).

They have a better D which is borderline elite, a very good Offense with an up and coming QB that in a way is changing the way Defenses have to play, solid ST, good health history (flukes or not remains to be determined) and an elite head coach.

So I ask you guys, can our young talent develop enough and our coaching staff make the necessary adjustments to beat the best team on paper right now?_________________Ted brought us Clay

To begin I think the obvious biggest factor is the continued development of Kaepernick. If he continues to improve after his breakout season last year and our Defense doesn't play similar to how it did in 2010 then I say the answer is no we do not have a chance. With Harbaugh there and a solid cast around him I don't see any reason for him to not continue to improve and honestly him being mentioned in the Top 5 QBs this season wouldn't completely surprise me.Losing Crabtree hurts but not enough IMO where I think there will be a huge dropoff. If anything it will force him to target the bigger/better Vernon Davis more.

The biggest key on D for us in addition to developing our young talent is Tramon Williams.

Dude needs to get his head out of his butt and play like he did in 2009/2010. He was at time our 4th best CB last year and played starter snaps. This can't happen and if he doesn't have a a huge bounce back year I don't see us going far.

He has had the injury excuse for 2 seasons now but at what point do we just have to come to terms with the fact that maybe he's just not the same player? Very sad._________________Ted brought us Clay

I don't think SF is all that unbeatable. They are questionable on the edge both on offense and defense. I don't think Kapernick's running will work long term. He's going to need to settle down and pass first to have extended success. They were healthy this year, but these things come and go, and 2013 is starting off bad for them already on that front. The Packers had a tough 2012 in terms of injuries. If you flip that around, then the Packers look like the dominant team with the 49ers looking up.

I really don't see the 49ers as this clear cut dominant team of the NFC. I don't even think they are a lock to be best in their division. Green Bay, Seattle, and Atlanta can all go toe to toe with each other on any given Sunday. In the last 2 meetings, if the Packers don't misfire early and can start the game off as a track meet, then the game starts to play more to their advantage. Instead they stumbled out of the gate and it turned into a brawl. That type of game obviously plays to the 49ers strengths.

If the Packers can set the tempo and put the pressure on their opponent, they can match up with everyone._________________

Wilfred wrote:

Memory is like the Packers when they are behind by two touchdowns in the 4th quarter... It comes back.

I don't think SF is all that unbeatable. They are questionable on the edge both on offense and defense. I don't think Kapernick's running will work long term. He's going to need to settle down and pass first to have extended success. They were healthy this year, but these things come and go, and 2013 is starting off bad for them already on that front. The Packers had a tough 2012 in terms of injuries. If you flip that around, then the Packers look like the dominant team with the 49ers looking up.

I really don't see the 49ers as this clear cut dominant team of the NFC. I don't even think they are a lock to be best in their division. Green Bay, Seattle, and Atlanta can all go toe to toe with each other on any given Sunday. In the last 2 meetings, if the Packers don't misfire early and can start the game off as a track meet, then the game starts to play more to their advantage. Instead they stumbled out of the gate and it turned into a brawl. That type of game obviously plays to the 49ers strengths.

If the Packers can set the tempo and put the pressure on their opponent, they can match up with everyone.

I agree with of course that we can match up with anyone, but disagree with you about SF not being the best in the NFC.

What dangerous runs have you seen Kap make that lead you to believe he is going to not be able to last long in the NFL? One or two come to mind for me but overall I think that he is a passer first, runner second and the NFL has a real problem on there hands. I thought the same things about Vick, and now Wilson but honestly Dom dared #7 to throw it last year and he just shredded us to pieces. He's a legit passer in the NFL and I don't think that was a fluke season at all.

Secondary point on Dom. I'm not a hater by any means nor in any world do I think that I know more about NFL Defenses than him, but his lack of adjustments of late have really been disheartening and if he hasn't spent a whole offseason in a room thinking of creative ways to slow that team down with the personel that we have then I think we are screwed and all of this is for not.

Last note on your health comment. We have been a notoriously unlucky team in the TT/MM era when it comes to injuries and unfortunatntely after 5 plus years off this what exactly do you think is going to change? We are going to be banged up come playoff time. I've just kind of accepted this._________________Ted brought us Clay

Yes they are, however, if we can get more of a balanced play out there next year we can def beat them.

Of course they can be beaten, the question was do you think we are better .

I agree that balance will probably help a ton but if you remember in last years playoff game we were running the ball very well in the beginning but our D was so bad that we were getting pounded and simply had to resort to throwing the ball.

For the 2nd offseason in a row I think the D has major questions they need to answer for us to win our 2nd._________________Ted brought us Clay

I agree with of course that we can match up with anyone, but disagree with you about SF not being the best in the NFC.

What dangerous runs have you seen Kap make that lead you to believe he is going to not be able to last long in the NFL? One or two come to mind for me but overall I think that he is a passer first, runner second and the NFL has a real problem on there hands. I thought the same things about Vick, and now Wilson but honestly Dom dared #7 to throw it last year and he just shredded us to pieces. He's a legit passer in the NFL and I don't think that was a fluke season at all.

Secondary point on Dom. I'm not a hater by any means nor in any world do I think that I know more about NFL Defenses than him, but his lack of adjustments of late have really been disheartening and if he hasn't spent a whole offseason in a room thinking of creative ways to slow that team down with the personel that we have then I think we are screwed and all of this is for not.

Last note on your health comment. We have been a notoriously unlucky team in the TT/MM era when it comes to injuries and unfortunatntely after 5 plus years off this what exactly do you think is going to change? We are going to be banged up come playoff time. I've just kind of accepted this.

QBs that look to run that quickly will not hold up in the long term. Nothing about Kapernick makes me think any differently.

I don't think the Packers got "shredded" in the passing game until their backs were broken by the running game. Watch Walden. EVERY SINGLE option play, he leaps at the dive leaving his edge wide open. The "adjustment" there is Walden is no longer on the roster and he isn't basically the last man left there. The only adjustments they could try and make are what left holes wide open in the passing game. The Packers got pushed into playing the 49ers game and got abused for it. If they turn that game into an early track meet, I don't know that you see Kapernick and the 49ers offense respond like that. I don't think their defense is that unbeatable. The front 7 is amazing, but the back end doesn't impress me at all.

The health thing swings. Some years the Packers have been healthy, some years not. 2010 and 2012 were bad, 2011 was really good. Over time it generally trends towards norm and to me that would say to expect less for the Packers and more for the 49ers, averaging out to about the same. The year the Packers lost to the Giants in the NFCCG with Favre, or to Arizona in the WC round were both overall fairly healthy years. Every team will lose a starter or two on average._________________

Wilfred wrote:

Memory is like the Packers when they are behind by two touchdowns in the 4th quarter... It comes back.

I think they are better but I don't understand how other teams just handled them for a first half and we couldn't. Falcons and Ravens were killing them and personally I think were better than both of them. I guess its just match up problems._________________
G.Harmon MLB #9
...Stop, You're Looking At Brilliance. G.G.T.G

I agree with of course that we can match up with anyone, but disagree with you about SF not being the best in the NFC.

What dangerous runs have you seen Kap make that lead you to believe he is going to not be able to last long in the NFL? One or two come to mind for me but overall I think that he is a passer first, runner second and the NFL has a real problem on there hands. I thought the same things about Vick, and now Wilson but honestly Dom dared #7 to throw it last year and he just shredded us to pieces. He's a legit passer in the NFL and I don't think that was a fluke season at all.

Secondary point on Dom. I'm not a hater by any means nor in any world do I think that I know more about NFL Defenses than him, but his lack of adjustments of late have really been disheartening and if he hasn't spent a whole offseason in a room thinking of creative ways to slow that team down with the personel that we have then I think we are screwed and all of this is for not.

Last note on your health comment. We have been a notoriously unlucky team in the TT/MM era when it comes to injuries and unfortunatntely after 5 plus years off this what exactly do you think is going to change? We are going to be banged up come playoff time. I've just kind of accepted this.

QBs that look to run that quickly will not hold up in the long term. Nothing about Kapernick makes me think any differently.

I don't think the Packers got "shredded" in the passing game until their backs were broken by the running game. Watch Walden. EVERY SINGLE option play, he leaps at the dive leaving his edge wide open. The "adjustment" there is Walden is no longer on the roster and he isn't basically the last man left there. The only adjustments they could try and make are what left holes wide open in the passing game. The Packers got pushed into playing the 49ers game and got abused for it. If they turn that game into an early track meet, I don't know that you see Kapernick and the 49ers offense respond like that. I don't think their defense is that unbeatable. The front 7 is amazing, but the back end doesn't impress me at all.

The health thing swings. Some years the Packers have been healthy, some years not. 2010 and 2012 were bad, 2011 was really good. Over time it generally trends towards norm and to me that would say to expect less for the Packers and more for the 49ers, averaging out to about the same. The year the Packers lost to the Giants in the NFCCG with Favre, or to Arizona in the WC round were both overall fairly healthy years. Every team will lose a starter or two on average.

2008
2009
2010
2012

Have been awful for us in injuries. Just dreadful. Under this era more often than not we have been decimated by injuries come playoff time and while that might change I'm not holding my breath.

Not sure if I agree with you on Kaep. I don't see him as a guy who is looking to run very early and he made some very impressive throws in the 2nd half of the season and he looks legit. I think if we dare him to throw he's going to probably be very efficient and if we play him straight up with lots of m2m he's smart enough to pick his spots and burn us big on the ground. This is all without mentioning that they're running an Offense the NFL has very little exposure/experience in stopping at all._________________Ted brought us Clay

I think they are better but I don't understand how other teams just handled them for a first half and we couldn't. Falcons and Ravens were killing them and personally I think were better than both of them. I guess its just match up problems.

Or indiscipline._________________

justo wrote:

Bostick drove a guy 12 yards and finished off with a pancake and I'm not sure where my pants went.

Hard to say right now but I can definitely say we're better equipped at beating them now than we were 5 months ago. It's almost like our philosophy going into the Draft & FA was to build a team to beat the SF's and SEA's of the NFL(that's exactly what we did). Adding a healthy Bishop, Perry, Bulaga, and rookies Datone Jones, Eddie Lacy, & Franklin to the team is going to really help our chances of beating physical teams like SF. Looking at our roster on paper, this team looks to be the most complete team we've had in GB since 1996 to be honest. Lofty comparison? Absolutely, but we now have a potentially dynamic running game to pair with our prolific passing game and a versatile front 7 with an elite secondary, pending improved play from Jerron McMillian, combine all that with an excellent punter and Randall Cobb/Jeremy Ross on returns and I just don't see many weak spots. And there's Mason Crosby..._________________